Mecca Masjid bomb blast case: NIA court acquits all five accused

Hyderabad: All five accused of 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blast case have been acquitted by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday as evidence were not sufficient to prove charges.

A blast in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007, killed nine people and left 58 injured. The incident was happened during Friday prayers and was allegedly carried out by a group of right-wing terrorists. Ten persons were named as accused in the case, however, only five of them — Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Chowdhary — who were arrested had faced trial in the case.

Two other accused- Sandeep V Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra- are absconding and still untraceable. while one of the accused, Sunil Joshi was allegedly murdered while the case was being investigated.

A total of 226 witnesses were examined during the trial and as many as 411 documents exhibited. The NIA took over the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011, in which ten persons were named as accused.